Biography:

Wang is the Director of Neuroapoptosis Drug Discovery Laboratory, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wang received her PhD from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She did her postdoctoral training at University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wang has published about 70 peer-reviewed articles and has served as the Guest Editor, Handling Editor, and Editorial Board Member for a number of peer-reviewed journals, as well as the scientist reviewer for institutes or foundations including NIH, DOD, BSF, and others, and invited reviewer for 30 peer-reviewed journals.

Abstract:

We and other researchers have reported that melatonin plays neuroprotective role in a variety of neurological conditions including acute cerebral ischemia and chronic Huntington's disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. However its role as a protective agent against newborn hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) brain injury is not yet well studied, while the mechanisms by which melatonin causes neuroprotection in neurological diseases is still evolving. The present study demonstrated that there was significant reduction in MT1 receptors in ischemic brain in mouse pups in vivo with H-I brain injury and in primary cortical neurons and primary astrocytes in vitro as the result of environmental stress and melatonin offers protection through upregulation of MT1 receptors and inhibition of mitochondrial cell death pathways. The direct role of MT1 receptors was further supported by observation of increased mortality in MT1 knockout mice and the protective effects in neuronal cell death and the inhibitory role of mitochondrial cell death pathways including mitochondrial potential gradient dissipation, mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening, mitochondrial fragmentation, and inhibition of the subsequent cytochrome c/Smac/AIF releases and caspase-3 activation by melatonin were reversed by melatonin receptor antagonist luzindole. Taken together, these data demonstrate that melatonin mediates its neuroprotective effect in models of newborn H-I brain injury, at least in part, by the restoration of MT1 receptors.

Biography:

Emmanuel Rudatsikira is Dean of the School of Health Professions and Professor of Public Health at Andrews University. He has a significant history of research, much achieved through receipt of grants from federal, state and private funding agencies. He has conducted research in more than 30 countries in all regions of the World Health Organization, published over 90 articles in peer-refereed journals, and given a variety of presentations both in the United States and internationally.

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of cannabis use and its socio-demographic correlates among in-school adolescents. We conducted secondary analysis of data obtained from the 2004 Zambia Global School-Based Health Survey. Logistic regressions analysis was conducted to identify the socio-demographic factors associated with cannabis use. A total of 2,257 adolescents participated in the survey, of which 53.9% were females. The overall prevalence of self-reported ever-used cannabis was 37.2% (34.5% among males and 39.5% among females). In multivariate analysis, males were 8% (AOR=0.92; 95% CI [0.89, 0.95]) less likely to have ever smoked cannabis. Compared to adolescents aged 16 years or older, adolescents aged 14 years were 45% (AOR=1.45; 95% CI [1.37, 1.55]) more likely, and those aged 15 years were 44% (AOR=1.56; 95% CI [0.53, 0.60]) less likely to report having ever smoked cannabis. Other factors that were significantly associated with cannabis use were history of having engaged in sexual intercourse (AOR=2.55; 95% CI [2.46, 2.64]), alcohol use (AOR=4.38; 95% CI [4.24, 4.53]), and having been bullied (AOR=1.77; 95% CI [1.71, 1.83]). Adolescents who reported being supervised by parents during free time were less likely to have smoked cannabis (AOR=0.92; 95% CI [0.88, 0.95]). The use of cannabis is prevalent among Zambian in-school adolescents. Efforts to prevent drug use among Zambian adolescents should be designed considering the factors associated with drug use in this study.

Biography:

Jos Draaisma has completed his MD at the age of 26 years from Radboudumc and PhD at the age of 29 years. He is head of the department of general pediatrics, director of the pediatric residency program, and director of the pediatric education program. He has published more than 70 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of different pediatric and medical education journals.

Abstract:

Advanced Pediatric Life Support guidelines are widely adopted for healthcare provider training and focus on individual knowledge and skills. Although team members may be sufficiently trained individually, teamwork skills have traditionally been less emphasized in pediatric training. However, the knowledge that fatal errors due to human factors occur in 70-80% of medical mishaps has led to a growing interest in pediatric teams’ cognitive and interpersonal skills, such as leadership and situational awareness. For this reason, we have developed different video-assisted real-time simulation programs: for medical students, for pediatric residents only, for multidisciplinary pediatric and neonatal teams and for ECMO-teams. The training program for the multidisciplinary pediatric team will be presented in detail, as well as the results of different studies we have performed. Effective leadership varies, not only with the person or group, but also depends on the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished. We have evaluated the leadership styles of our pediatric residents. Pediatric residents most often use the coaching style (two way communication). More recently we have focused on teaching and assessing situational awareness. One of the major challenges of all these trainings is the transfer of the learning on the job. Major components to influence this transfer are intervention readiness, realism and self-efficacy. Providing adequate preparation material and extensive debriefing of the scenarios is important in creating intervention readiness. The perspectives of realism depend strongly on setting and learning goals. There is a significant increase in self-efficacy, which remains increased for at least three months.

Biography:

Dr. Ariza is an anesthesiologist focused in major surgery, Fellow of Anesthesia in Solid Organ Transplantation at Hospital Vall d Hebrón in Barcelona and Magister in Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Universidad de la Frontera in Chile. He works as researcher in perioperative medicine and adverse events since 10 years ago and currently as IRB Chairman at Fundación Valle del Lili in Cali, Colombia. He has published several papers about adverse events prevention strategies and has participated as Board Member in Transfusional Medicine and Transplants Committee at Colombian Society of Anesthesiology. Is one of the founders of the Advance Bleeding Control in Trauma and Major Surgery (CASTYM) Course-Workshop that currently is held around the world.

Abstract:

Gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures (GEP) include a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic minimal invasive approaches that are performed outside the operating room or in specially designed areas. Children constitute a subpopulation who benefits from general anesthesia (GA) or deep sedation (short periods of unconsciousness obtained by intermittent low dose induction agents) for this type of procedures due to their autonomic protective roll and derived immobility, trying to offer a friendly and safe experience for the child and his/her family. Inhaled or intravenous drugs with rapid pharmacokinetic profiles are preferred for these scenarios due to their relation with “fast-track” procedures and cost-efficacy. It has been determined a very low incidence of global complications (0.13%) and mortality (0.004%) in this population for GEP, while more frequent post-procedure symptoms found were sore throat and dysphonia. In fact, most of these procedures are currently performed in a “free-hazard” base where IV access and airway protection devices are frequently obviated. We show a retrospective analysis to determine the current prevalence of serious and non-serious AEs for children less than 12 y-o under GEP who required anesthesia care and propose a predictive model with the most significant perioperative factors in an environment where GA is the most frequent anesthetic approach.

Biography:

Dr. Rizk graduated from Alexandria University, Egypt in 1995, then granted MRCPCH in 2008, FRCPCH in 2012 from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (UK), He obtained teh specialty Certificate in Paediatric Neurology in 2012 from the British Paediatric Neuroloogy Association. Dr. Rizk is an active member of multiple international Child Neurology societie. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and he has been serving as an editorial board member of multiple reputable journals in the field of paediatric neurology and Neurosciences. He is a consultant Paediatric Neurologist in Sulaiman Alhabib Medical Group; KSA.

Abstract:

Objective: The aim of the study is to show the functional contribution of botulinum toxin-A in the treatment of postoperative pediatric stiff hips. Methods: Four pediatric patients with postoperative stiff hips were included. Three patients with complicated developmental dysplasia of the hip after multiple revision surgeries, and a case of cerebral palsy after hip surgery were given botulinum toxin injections in selected muscles as an adjunctive therapy to the standard orthopedic and rehabilitation management. Results: All patients experienced a significant reduction in pain with a significant improvement in posture, range of motion and mobility. Conclusion: The preliminary results of botulinum toxin-A injection when given to selected muscles seem to be promising in relieving pain and improving range of motion in pediatric patients with postoperative stiff hips. It may be considered as an option in the treatment of difficult cases of postoperative stiff hips refractory to physiotherapy.

Biography:

Abstract:

Exploring the parenting styles, coping strategies and perceived stress in parents of children who have undergone cardiac intervention are challenging issues because they affect the whole family dynamics. Ten mothers of children who have undergone cardiac intervention and ten mothers of healthy children, aged 5 to 14 were administered three questionnaires: Parenting styles Questionnaire, Cope and Perceived stress Questionnaire. The testing was conducted at the final day of their five-day summer camp in June 2011. Exploration of psychosocial characteristics of parents living with the diagnosis of cardiac disease in their child is crucial for the entire team of those providing healthcare. Adequate medical as well as psychological diagnosis can provide adequate psychotherapeutic interventions which can have multi-faceted benefits both for the parents and children in the process of coping.